Against the Odds
by CrimsonKunoichi
Summary: When Sasuke left he said something to Sakura, but that didn't change anything... in fact it just made those feelings grow...


Title: Against The Odds

Pairings: Uchiha Sasuke & Haruno Sakura

Rating: M - Not suitable for children or teens below the age of 16 with possible strong but non-explicit adult themes, references to violence, and strong coarse language.

Disclaimer: if Naruto were mine… SasuGAY. Would. Be. Dead.

Chapter One: How can I Just Let You Walk Away?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What are you doing down here so late at night? Just out for a stroll?" the raven-haired boy calmly asked, not even caring to look his teammate in the face.

Sakura looked down "In order to leave the village, you have to take this road." She said not moving her eyes from the one spot on the floor.

Keeping his eyes strait ahead the boy moved around her "Go home and sleep" he said, still walking she just stood there glued in place and not daring to move, as the sound of his step every slowly where becoming faint.

A small trail of tears ran down the girls rosy cheeks "why?" she turned around still not looking him in the eyes "Why won't you say anything to me?" he kept walking "Why do you shut everyone out? Why won't you tell me anything…"

"Why do I have to tell you?" he cut her off, a tinge of annoyance in his voice. The trail of tears made their way down her chin making a soft dripping sound as they fell to the floor.

"I'm telling you that you meddle too much" his voice was colder than usual "Stop bothering me all the time."

She turned away "You always act like you hate me, Sasuke-kun." She turned once more, only this time to look him in the face, or she would have had he not been standing backwards to her.

"Do you remember?" she asked. "When we became genin…the day the three-man teams were decided, and we were alone at this very spot. You were angry at me weren't you?"

Flash back

A slightly younger Sakura with long hair was looking at her crush standing with his back turned to her.

"See he doesn't have any parents." She said in a lively voice as if she were talking to her girlfriends about nail polish. "Being alone, he doesn't get yelled at by his parents. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, but she kept talking "That's why he is so unruly"

"Loneliness…" Sasuke said in a sad voice making her face change from annoyance to worry.

"Hun?"

He continued… "You can't compare it to how you feel after you get scolded by your parents"

Sakura raised her hands to cover her mouth "What's wrong?" she asked in a now truly concerned voice.

He half turned to her "You are annoying" he said fully turning to glare at her, then simply walked away as is she had never even been there, while the pink-haired girl stood mouth gaping watching him leave

Flash back end

"I don't remember," he said indifferently

Flesh tears made their way down her cheeks "That's right. That was a long time ago" she said in a forced cheery voice "But it started on that day. You and I, and Naruto and Kakashi-sensei…" she managed a small smile to her lips as memories of her early days with her team that she had grown to love "The four of us have done a lot of missions together. It was difficult, and it was awful, demo… Even so… It was fun "her smile grew for a moment before completely fading away "I know what happened to your clan. But with revenge alone, you will not be able to make anyone happy." She continued with a sad tone while a lone cloud moved to cover their heads "No one… Neither you… Nor me…"

"I know that" he said, "I am different from you guys. I follow a different path than you guys. The four of us together… It's true that I have thought of that as a possible path. Despite the four of us having been together, my heart has chosen revenge. I live for that purpose. I can't be like you or Naruto."

"Aren't you going to be lonely by yourself?" she yelled "Sasuke-kun, you told me that being alone is painful!" she cried "I know that very well, so much that it hurts! I have family and friends. But… If you leave, for me…" She took a step forward "To me, it's the same as being alone!"

"From this point on, new paths will start."

"I…" she took another step "I love you more than anything! If you are by my side, I will make sure that you will not regret it. I will make every day more enjoyable, and you will be happy!" she continued to cry "I would do anything for you! That's why… I beg you! Please stay here! I will even help you with your revenge! There must be something I can do! That's why… please, stay with here with me… If that is not possible, please take me with you…" she began to sob uncontrollably

Sasuke turned to face the sobbing girl an evil smile player on his lips. "After all this, you're still annoying."

Sakura looked him in the eye, she couldn't believe what she was hearing… she had just confessed her undying love for him… and that's what he says?

Sasuke moved his feet… "Don't go!" she almost screamed, running after him "If you go, I will scream out loud and…" in a second he disappeared and reappeared behind her "Sakura… Aishiteru" a quick snap of his nimble fingers and her world went black. Lying her on the bench Sasuke turned away leaving the village not looking back once, a small breeze blew by the stone bench near the ninja academy. Soft pastel locks whipped around the kunoichi's sleeping face as her first love walked away.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun had barely risen when the distinct forms of the two most unlucky chuunin came into sight of the side bench where a pink-haired genin slept, the two chuunin would be rubbing their eyes had it not been for the fact they had in their hands boxes and boxes full of papers.

"Ne Godaime-sama sure works people hard" Izumo complained sleepily.

"It's four AM! For the love of God" Kotetsu grumbled.

They continued they way to the Hokage tower when Izumo spotted a splash of pink on one of the benches.

"Oi" he called out "You shouldn't sleep out here... You'll get sick"

Jade eyes fluttered open. As Sakura took in her surroundings a bit confused as the two chuunin stared at her, she remembered why she was there, he'd left... And there was nothing she could do. Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks cover the dry stains of last night's tears.

"What's the matter?" The worried chuunin didn't know how to act around the girl's tears.

"He's… gone" Came her simple response, barely heard through her tears.

---------------------------------

Time frame - four years later

Jade eyes bore holes into the Hokage's back as the blonde made a point to purposely not face her apprentice. Sakura's face flared in anger though her porcelain masked hid it from the other shinobi present. The other nine began to wish they weren't there as the tension in the room grew till you could feel it smothering you like a cloud of smoke. Naruto shifted uneasy in his standing spot near the furious pink-haired kunoichi.

"Ne, Tsunade-baa-chaa are you going to tell us what's going on or not?" The ever impatient knucklehead hollered at the top of his voice, the sound cutting through the invisible fog that filled the room.

Sakura who usually would hit Naruto for yelling didn't even flinch, she was glad he spoke when he did, before SHE opened her mouth that is, in her current state of mind she was too sure of what might unintentionally or maybe even intentionally escape if she did.

"Naruto calm down" Kakashi said in a quiet voice to Naruto even though his eyes were on Sakura as he spoke. Tsunade feeling she could no longer postpone what was about to come slowly turned to the other shinobi in the room.

"About one hour ago we received word from our ANBU scouts that team HEBI was seen near the border of the fire country. As you know team HEBI's only objective is to find and eliminate the Akatsuki member Uchiha Itachi..."

"Teme is HERE we have to get him now! Before he leaves again" Naruto was almost screaming now.

"Naruto" Tsunade called after him as he was already about to jump out the window. "Naruto wait for me to finish"

"But Tsunade-baa-chaa we need to go now!" He cried.

"Listen to me Naruto, you cannot go now," the Hokage explained in her calmest voice. Naruto pout but decided to stay put, for now.

"As you know" she continued, "Uchiha Itachi is a member of the criminal organization Akatsuki" she paused.

"So that means that if Sasuke is here, then Itachi is here too" Sakura finished her shishou's explanation out loud even though she meant it only for herself.

"That's right" the Hokage spoke up again "and not only that... If Uchiha Itachi is here then so is his partner, Hoshigaki Kisame. Not only that, we know that their current mission is to capture the Kyuubi in Naruto"

"I'm not scared of them baa-chaa" Naruto pouted in a amazingly low voice (that just means he wasn't screaming) All eyes turned to the blonde, there was no way he could keep who he was from people even with his mask on and when he DIDN'T say anything to give him away, just his loud voice would give him away.

Sakura rolled her eyes behind her mask, she was already angry that this was taking as long as it was, not to count Naruto was making it take longer still with his stupid questions and knuckle head behavior.

"We know that" the Hokage's calm voice was wavering. "But since their attempts to capture the Kyuubi we've heard rumors that the two man team assigned to Naruto is now a four man team, this has not been confirmed of yet, but anyhow we don't have the man power to go against possible four Akatsuki's and even though their number aren't confirmed I'm not about to let Naruto go anywhere near where Akatsuki are if they have a chance at taking him there, and we also have to consider the possibility that team HEBI might turn on you as well"

"What??? Teme would never hurt Konoha shinobi!"

Tsunade turned her head to glare at Naruto. "Listen to me you knuckle head" anger rising in her voice "You know very well that that IS a possibility, Sasuke already tried to kill you didn't he? Twice!"

Naruto looked down his eyes watered even though you couldn't see through the porcelain mask that covered all the painful emotions displayed on his face. Tsunade knew she. Was hurting him with her harsh words, but then she also couldn't let him go on denying what his friend tried to do, even if only because it could cost him his life

"I'm sorry to have to say this but it is a possibility" she finished in a calmer voice.

"What are your orders Hokage-sama?"

Turning her not often seen Hokage mode on Tsunade stood strait to address the shinobi

"Uzumaki Naruto" she called

"Hai"

"Haruno Sakura"

"Hai"

"Sai"

"Hai"

"Hatake Kakashi"

"Hai"

The four of you will know be know as ANBU squad 7, Hatake Kakashi being your leader. Your codes names will be respectively canary, puma, panther, tiger..."

"Hey why do I have to be the only one that is a bird?" Naruto whimpered

"Be quiet" Sakura's stern voice warned.

"Continuing..." The Hokage cleared her throat "Your target team HEBI will be referred to as 'falcon' the individuals Suigetsu, Karin, Juugo, and Sasuke will be know as Abyssinian, Sokoke, Skookum, and Cymric. The secondary target Akatsuki's Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame will be known as Mustela and Owstoni. If any other Akatsuki's are spotted they will be 'Māori' is that clear?"

"Hai Hokage-sama" Kakashi answer for the team, seeing Sai wasn't (going to say anything Naruto had gone from pouting to sulking, and Sakura showed no outer emotion except for her hand, balled into a fist that would twitch every now or so.

"You will leave in 10 minutes," the final words from the Hokage signaled their leave to go.

---------------------------------

Ten minutes later at the front gate

The four from the 'new' team seven stood outside Konoha's gates,

"OK, let's move out"

A quick nod from the other three and they all jumped to the trees. They traveled for four hours none stop jumping through the trees none had said a word since their departure from Konoha. The eerie sound of noting but crickets was driving Sakura mad, her mind filled with the memories of the night he had left.

It hurt her so much when he left a gaping whole in her heart but she had never given up, not on him and not in loving him, Naruto hadn't given up either both of them still had hope.

Kakashi had been more affected then he let on, he'd felt like trash, he had almost completely ignored his other students because he favored Sasuke, what made it worse was that not only had he favored Sasuke but when that hadn't been enough he still did it again, he preferred Naruto to Sakura, and he didn't really notice until it was too late, but by then Sakura didn't care anymore, and now it had been his turn to suffer, first when his prized student betrayed them all, then when Naruto traded him in for Jiraiya, that wasn't a big deal he just felt bad because he had preferred Sasuke over him, and now Naruto had found himself a new teacher.

He had hurt Sakura when he favored other students to her... Twice. But life's a bitch, and what comes around goes around and Kakashi found that to be very true when he'd realized he was falling for his ex-student. That had been just about the worst thing he could remember happening to him, falling in love with his underage ex-student which he had deeply hurt by his indifference towards her. Ending result? Every day he told himself he'd burn in hell.

Kakashi signaled the group to stop, and jumped to the floor. Following in suit the other three landed on the floor next to him.

Kakashi spoke, "This is where team HEBI was last seen according to the reports. From here I'll summon Pakkun and find a trail"

Kakashi proceeded to bite his finger followed by hand seals "Kuchiyose no jutsu."

Poof

Pakkun lifted a pair of lazy eyes to look at his master "Yo Kakashi, did you know you have the habit of calling me out at the worst time possible? Like right now I was…" the pup stopped his complain mid sentence when he noticed four pairs of eyes glaring at him.

"Pakkun, I need you to find a trail," his master explained in a serious voice Kakashi not often used.

"Who?" the nin 'pup' asked in a near whimper

"Sasuke"

Not wanting to ask anymore or be around the still glaring ANBU Pakkun decided on a hasty retreat to do what his master asked.

"Hai" the pup sped away

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An hour had passed and Pakkun had still not returned, and Naruto was growing impatient, he paced there and back running his fingers through his spiky golden locks occasionally pulling at the tips.

"Arrghhhhhhhhh!!!" he almost yelled "What's taking him so long? Ne, Kakashi-senpai"

"Naruto the best thing we can do is to wait" Kakashi said in a calm voice, he was just as agitated as the blonde, but would never let it show.

"But Kakashi-senpai…" Naruto never finished as he felt something the others felt it too. Sakura's heart skipped a beat. Strong chakra, could it be?

The four fell into defense stance as they await the chakra signatures approach

The sharingan gave a special feel to the chakra, Sakura couldn't really explain it but every time she got near a sharingan user she could feel the sharingan's taint on the person's chakra, she had only ever been around three sharingan users… the only three left in this world (that she knew of that is), there were four chakra signatures and none were trying to hide themselves or so she thought she could smell the Uchiha in the air. But something was different she just couldn't quite place it, could he have changed that much she thought to herself trying to figure out what was different… then… no!

"Akatsuki!" she almost yelled. But the other already knew.

"Kukuku…" the unmistakable voice of the largest chakra container in the Akatsuki's pay role filled the small clearing between the trees were the ANBU squad stood.

"Kisame" she said barely above a whisper

"Very perceptive" the shark man chuckled "Look at that Itachi… these ANBU are getting smarter each time" his face lit up in a ear to ear grin "Fortunately for us they're still not smart enough to avoid us" he laughed again "I can't believe they even seek us out" he snickered.

"We're not looking for you fish-man" Naruto yelled back at him "But for now you'll just do"

Kisame looked shocked, had this kyuubi kid really challenged him? He smile again, it was on.

"Confident are we? Kyuubi jinchuuriki." His voice sounding amused and annoyed at the same time.

"Well then come and get me"

Besides his own words Kisame jumped down from the tree and removed Samehada from his back.

Itachi almost rolled his eyes at his companion that at times could be worse than the hyperactive blonde jinchuuriki, almost Uchiha's don't roll their eyes.

"Kisame" Itachi called in a low voice "I'll be fighting the jinchuuriki, you will fight Kakashi" Kisame grunted in disappointment.

"Deidara" he turned to the blonde nin "You get Haruno. Tobi will fight the other one"

Sai frowned, Itachi called out each of his companions distinctively expect for him.

"And just who made you team leader, hmm?" Deidara retorted.

Itachi turned to glare at Deidara who simply ignored him. "Tobi, hmm"

"Yes, Deidara-senpai"

"You get the girl, yeah" he smirked looking at Sai "I wanna see this boy's art, yeah"

"Yeas, Deidara-senpai" Tobi yelled at the top of his voice "Tobi will be a good boy and capture the girl" Tobi raised his arms happily.

Deidara smacked his own forehead "Tobi you're an idiot" he muttered.

"That's not nice, Deidara-senpai" Tobi shook his head

"Shut up Tobi, yeah" Deidara glared at his masked partner "You talk too much Tobi, that bad, yeah. Bad Tobi"

"No" Tobi shook his head furiously "No, Tobi is a good boy"

"No" Deidara kept glaring "Tobi is a bad boy who talks too much, yeah. If you wanna be a good boy, do your job right and keep your damn mouth shut, hmm"

"Sorry Deidara-senpai… Tobi will be a good boy and do Tobi's job" Tobi said in an enthusiastic voice, then jumped down and walked over to where Kisame stood.

Itachi was still glaring at Deidara for telling him off, and Deidara still made a point to ignore him even though he was as happy as could be seeing the Uchiha mad.

The four ANBU just stood there watching the Akatsuki's argue and as amusing as it would was they just weren't in the mood and stood there dead serious waiting for them to finish their squabble and get to the point at the same time using the distracting to come up with a plan, sure they we're strong but this were Akatsuki they were against and on one on one, Tsunade had foreseen this and had another team assigned to the mission, but squad seven had left with an four advance due to other complications involving the other squads leader Yamato, Yamato being vital to the mission and could not be replaced but had yet to return from another mission thus the delay.

Itachi still annoyed with Deidara's 'insolence' decided to get this over with once and for all. He had planned his fight against the jinchuuriki distracting the blonde long enough to send him to the world of tsukuyomi.

Not moving from his spot on the tree Itachi turned in the direction of his target, his hands moved in flash signs,

Ni-hitsuji-saru-i-uma-tora...

He took in a deep breath "Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu"

Naruto jumped in time to dodge the fireball while moving his hands to his favorite attack

Kyuu hitsuji

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto's voice was barely heard over the remaining noise of Itachi's attack.

From the smoke of the goukakyuu five of Naruto's kage bunshin's emerge

"Two speed towards the Uchiha from each side while a third attempted to sneak him from behind. The other two took their place on each side of the real Naruto each forming a rasengan on each of his hands. Itachi didn't move from his spot as he calmly awaited Naruto's attack, and he was not disappointed as the first bunshin appeared to his right already swinging his left fist in direction of the Uchiha's face, as the bunshin to the left arrived and just as the first swung in direction of Itachi who simply disappeared in a puff of smoke as the two bunshin's connected with his face, to find a log there once the smoke cleared.

"Kawarimi no jutsu" one of them stated as if it were a grand discovery, and not a second later disappeared in a puff of smoke, followed by another poof from the right bunshin as Itachi kick connected with both clones at the same time. The third took the moment Itachi was distracted with the first two to sneak behind him taking hold of both his arms in an iron grip; Itachi felt the clone in time to see Naruto appear in front of him in each hand a formed rasengan.

"He's gotten faster" Itachi noted to himself, his hands flashed -kyuu hitsuji "Kage bunshin no jutsu" Itachi said in a low voice as two bunshin's appeared beside him as he shrunk back between them, as Naruto crashed each rasengan into one of the clones, he cursed Itachi had used his favorite jutsu against him. Itachi smirked from behind a tree a few meters away. "How amusing this kyuubi" he thought to himself, and next he was flying through the trees he hadn't seen Naruto's kawarimi and only noticed the real blonde was missing when the same connected his fist with Itachi's face. Upon landing in the middle of the small clearing Itachi calmly sat up to wipe the small trickle of blood running down his cheek… he smiled a finally a fight that was worth it, still, he would make him pay for hitting him, no one hits an Uchiha and gets away with it.

"Haha!" Naruto called out triumphantly from the trees "Hey, Uchiha… the copy nin position is already called for yeah" he laughed. Deidara turned his head to look at where the kyuubi was standing though he couldn't see him. He frowned; HE would always use 'yeah,' damn plagiarist. He would definitely hit the kyuubi a good punch for that before they removed his biju.

Deidara wasn't the only to get upset with Naruto's remark, Itachi was inwardly cursing the jinchuuriki… patience was never listed in the Uchiha's virtues, though he would never admit it… or show it for that matter… he found it humiliating to show emotions and decided rather on killing people who tried his patience.

Jumping to his feet Itachi speed towards Naruto's he had decided on using a taijutsu approach that would give him the perfect opportunity to release his anger and with his sharingan it was unlikely for the kyuubi to land him a hit. Naruto saw him coming and realized right away what the Uchiha was planning, but there was no way really to counter the sharingan… only if he were unpredictable… and that wasn't easy… wait. That's it!

Naruto faced the oncoming blur of black and crimson he knew to be Itachi. Eyes locked on the Uchiha's face, but missing his eyes as his own cerulean orbs began to change to blood red and small chakra bubbles began to seep through his clothes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello dear readers,

I hope you've all enjoyed this first chapter, as I'm a bit nervous, I've never done something like this before and amazing, as it seem I'm NOT a Sasuke fan!! Actually I hate his guts and I really hope Deidara comes back to life and kicks his ass!!! (Yes, I'm a major Deidara fan girl, yeah), I probably wont be updating this fic every week as the chapters will be rather long and I don't have much time to write, but as a reward for your patience you will get big chapters and an occasional cookie [winks, so please review. I need reviews to help me write say… one per page? That'll be 10 reviews before I post the next chapter. See ya…

Crimsonkunoichi


End file.
